14 CARP AND TENCH. 



seventy days ; and when the fry have at last made their 

 appearance, they have invariably been poor weaklings, and 

 puny in precise proportion to the time lost in their retarda- 

 tion in the egg. After a fish of any description has burst 

 its bounds into life, the vesicle or investing membrane, 

 which encompassed it in embryo, still adheres to the um- 

 bilical region, and contains a small proportion of the fluid 

 necessary to the sustenance of the then unprotected ani- 

 mal. This vesicle or sack is exhausted of its fluid in four- 

 teen days in trout, and in double that time with smolts, and 

 then drops off; and by this time Nature has taught these 

 little creatures to hunt for their food, and to avoid danger, 

 which they do by keeping close to the shallows. Carp and 

 tench spawn in June, at the time when wheat is in blossom, 

 which will pretty well indicate the temperature of the water 

 as well as the air. These fish spawn near the surface, and 

 this accounts in part for the difficulty of breeding them in 

 rivers and streams ; though, when bred in ponds, and after- 

 wards turned into rivers, they thrive fast and well, and are 

 better as food. And here, while I am on the subject of 

 carp, I may as well mention that the gold carp, a native of 

 the Eastern World, cannot breed or spawn under a tempe- 

 rature of from 70 to 80, but at that they will breed luxu- 

 riantly : proper care, however, must be taken, or they will 

 devour every particle of spawn they have deposited. An 

 instance of this voracity I have from a gentleman who kept 



